Virgincruiser510

I used a passport card in 2016 and had no trouble at all. 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks Connie. I will continue checking the Breakaway and the Gem periodically. And, I'll sign up for a newsletter as soon as I find a place to do that. Sometimes information comes to you in email. Since I've been doing all this research the past couple of days, my inbox is beginning to fill up with all kinds of cruise information from everywhere. I'm sure "Big Brother" knows all the websites I'm visiting.

Also make sure your setting is set to 1 person. It is automatically set for 2 people and the first time you click is says for solos only and you can't see the price. If that is the case you look at the bar on the left side of page and change it to 1 there.

 

Thank you. Yes, I found that out after playing with the site for a bit. That's how I found that quote about the special "s". After I posted, I did actually find some trips with that "s" but they don't dock in NYC. If it's not one thing, it's another. I'm finding very few sails with that "s" as it happens.

Thanks for the information. I've searched far and wide tonight trying to find a cruise for myself. I think I'll have to wait and see if a deal comes up or I'll call them for more information. But I do have time. I still have some saving to do. It's discouraging that most ships sail out of Florida which for me would require an airline flight, more $$. I really have to be able to sail out of NYC in order to afford it. So anyway, something will come up sooner or later.

 

Thanks again. Happy Sailing.

I've been reading up on solo cruising. I just enjoyed my first cruise with 17 members of my family on a different cruise line. Now I want to cruise again, but I don't have a cruise buddy, so I'm happy to cruise alone. In fact, I'm looking forward to it for many reasons.

 

That being said, I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced the studios on NCL. They look very inviting and I'm especially happy about the fact that there's not a single supplement. How awful to have to pay double the price just because you don't have another person with you to occupy the other side of the bed. The fact that NCL has decided to do it this way is the only reason I'll be able to go back out again without having to wait more than a year to save up.

 

I'm an old 64. Some people are young 64's but I'm not in that great of physical shape. But as long as I have breath in me, I want to sail again because I just love the sea. I always have. And the fact that it took me 64 years to get on a ship in the first place makes me more anxious than ever to get back to it.

 

I do have a question though. I tried to find out what the price of one of these rooms is and I can't find it listed, unless I'm doing something wrong and that wouldn't surprise me. I just about find my way around the internet as it is. The reason I ask is because the only price I keep coming up with, at least the lowest price is one coming up at $999 for a 7-day Bahamas and Florida. This is on the actual NCL website. It also says "Solo cruisers pay less than double fare on select sailings marked with a ." Well I don't see that little s anywhere and I tried many different dates and destinations. I'm looking on the Breakaway. Perhaps I need to try a different ship? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks if you've read through all this. And Happy Sailing.

Just got back from our cruise to the Bahama's. I just wanted to give the heads up on these two rooms specifically for anyone with children. They're very very noisy. My daughter has 3 kids. They got very little sleep the entire cruise. My daughter and her husband and the 3 children had room 6136. 6132 was for the in-laws. These rooms are located directly above the speakers in the Liquid Lounge. The lounge doesn't shut down its sound system until at least 2:30am. And, on more than one night it was turned back on at 3:30am briefly and then it goes back on again at 7:30am.

 

My daughter went to Guest Services hoping they could be moved to another room, but the ship was filled so they got money off their bill and 15% off their next cruise with Carnival to be used by 2018. This was all very nice, but no one in those two rooms got any sleep the entire 8 days.

 

I understand that Carnival's goal is to make money so they book every square foot of space they can for the revenue. But, booking directly above a sound system in a disco lounge doesn't make much sense to me. But moreover, the one room, 6136, is a room which accommodates 5 people. That should lead one to believe that some of those 5 people, especially if they all have the same last name, are children. Neither of these rooms should have been booked to a family.

 

Anyway, my goal here is to just give the heads up in case anyone happens to have these rooms, just to know what you're in for.

You can purchase wine packages by the bottle once on board. There is a table set up for that purpose.

 

I found this information on the internet. Is it still true?:

 

"On embarkation day Carnival offers free wine tasting in the gift shop and a great variety of packages, so the embarkation day offers better deals."

 

And also,:

 

• 3 bottles of wine package cost - Basic ($77), Deluxe ($97), Premium $114. The Premium wine package is available only on 5- days sailings.
  
• 5 bottles of wine package cost - Basic ($131), Deluxe ($153), Premium $193. The Premium wine package is available only on 5+ days sailings.
  

And I have one other question please. I thought I saw they had a wine package you could order but I can't find where I saw it to place the order. All I'm seeing now is Bubbles and Cheers. Did they do away with the wine package?

Leaving for Carribean on Tuesday. Just wondering, what kinds of beverages are available in the MDR for breakfast and dinner and is there a charge for dinner beverages? I know you can buy wine by the bottle or glass, but what about other beverages;, soda, juice, or alcohol? Or even just soda? Do you have to be on the cheers pkg to get it free?

Thank you for your answers everyone. I just wanted to double check before we made a mistake. We will order our bottled water on the website.

I know this has been asked and answered many times, but please remind me what is the latest information? Are we or are we not allowed to bring bottled water aboard and how much can we bring per person? Thanks for your patience.

Be sure to double check the times on the MDR the last day ... the Sunshine for us a week ago was 6:30 - 8am. Not all ships have the same dining times.:-)

 

Thanks. We will definitely check on this. :)

Luvs2beachit, thank you for your reply. I'm greatly relieved. Getting out of the stateroom by 8am will be fine. Being able to relax on Lido while everyone else gets off the ship sounds like heaven. We are local to NYC as well so nowhere to rush off to but home and the inevitable reality of real life. We're booking a limo to get us home so I'll just have them arrive a bit later as well.

 

I see there's also the alternative of the MDR until 8:30 if we can get up and out early enough.

 

One way or another we'll leave the ship with breakfast as our parting meal.

 

Thank you for all the replies.

I'll be on the Sunshine July 12-20. I know the boat gets back into port in NYC at 8am. Are there breakfast options available that day? Can we stay on the boat for breakfast and then disembark a little later? Or is there a mass exodus at 8am? We will have some small children with us and we need to know what to do about feeding them before the trip back home.

5:30 is a terrible time. My whole family, 17 of us including the kids, are eating dinner at the early seating which would make it impossible for us to attend a Meet and Mingle at that time. Why can't something be set up for about 2PM? I was instructed that I'm not allowed to sign up the whole 17 of us myself. They allowed me a 5 person sign-up. So, I asked the rest of the family to come to the site and sign themselves up but I suspect they're not going to do this. If Carnival is going to hold these events at difficult or inappropriate times and not allow one member of a group to sign up the whole group, it's not going to work out well. I feel like what they're trying to do is a great thing. But they're shooting themselves in the foot in the process trying to figure out how to make it work when it just shouldn't be so hard.

I think that just in case I'll pack a room deodorizer, something that feels and smells like home. And honestly, we don't spend much time in the room. Thanks for your response.

Aren't the gratuities built into the cost of the trip? I'm reading on the Carnival website that for an 8-day sail, gratuities are $96. I'm hoping that's not in addition to what I've already paid. I know there are gratuities for room service, and per drink if you're not on the cheers package. What else?

Thank you. I thought they were talking about everything in my suitcase. Geez. I have newbie printed clearly on my forehead.

What is that? Do I have to fill that out? Can someone please explain? Thanks.

What does it say on the caller ID? I'm sailing out of NY. Would it be a NY number or is the Carnival Cruise Lines office in Miami. How am I supposed to know if they're calling me? I get so many prank callers and robo calls, I don't even answer the phone if I don't recognize the number anymore.

[quote name='nicole2380']I did a search but I am only seeing old policies posted from 2012 or older.
I know you can bring wine on board one bottle per person over 21 years of age.
My question is do you have to check the bottle with the main dinning room or can you keep the bottle in your room?[/quote]

[SIZE=4][FONT=Arial][COLOR=Blue]Is it actually one bottle? I've read other threads where they say two.

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Thank you for this very thorough review Nicole. I'll be sailing on Sunshine in July. I appreciate your tips and, as I read your review, I'm taking notes. I will definitely be hitting Cucina the first night. I'm with you. Can't refuse a free carafe of wine.

DebbieMo, you made me laugh so hard. Thank you so much for the enlargement. You're a sweetheart. I can see clearly now, lol. Just one question. What is that square thingy with the boxes in it? Is that the atrium?

It's not next to the elevators, it's a couple cabins down from them according to the deck map. It will not be noisy. I stayed in a cabin much closer to the atrium elevators on the Dream and it was as quite as can be.

 

 

Thank you so much. I feel better now.

I should have added, on the Sunshine.